■REAL ESTATE
Trump mulls India project
Donald Trump Jr., the son of New York-based developer Donald Trump, said the Trump Organization is considering investing in an India project in 12 to 18 months. "I would like to take advantage of hotels and resorts coming up for future investment," Trump Jr. said at a real estate conference in Mumbai yesterday. Trump aims to focus on hotels, resorts and high-end homes in India, he said. India's real estate sector is expected to grow to US$90 billion by 2015 from US$12 billion now, estimates by Moody's Investors Service showed. The South Asian nation faces a shortage of about 25 million housing units, government data showed.
■ HEALTHCARE
Mediators table proposal
Mediators trying to prevent a mass resignation by Finnish nurses over a pay dispute have come up with a proposal likely to help end a crisis threatening the healthcare system, union officials said on Sunday. If ratified by both the Union of Health and Social Care Professionals (TEHY) and the Local Authority Employers the agreement would stop 16,000 nurses from quitting and spare the healthcare system from potential paralysis. "There is a unanimous mediator committee proposal," TEHY regional head Helena Leppanen said. "We know our negotiators would not come out with one [proposal] that was not acceptable among our members."
■ BANKING
UK minister mulls bank aid
Advisors to British Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Alistair Darling are preparing a plan to continue an emergency loan to troubled bank Northern Rock despite EU rules limiting the period it can receive state aid, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported on Sunday. They are working on a scheme which would allow all or part of the £25 billion (US$51 billion) Bank of England loan to be extended indefinitely, it said. Under EU rules, Northern Rock cannot receive state aid beyond Feb. 17, but lawyers are looking at bypassing that stipulation by changing the status of the cash to restructuring aid, the paper said.
■ OIL
Prices up on supply worries
Oil prices were higher in Asia yesterday as traders again fretted over tight energy supplies with the northern hemisphere winter approaching, dealers said. Indications that OPEC is not about to raise output were also propping up prices, they said. "If one looks at the fundamentals, the market is tight," said Victor Shum, a Singapore-based analyst with energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz. "That is why the crude futures are showing fresh signs of strength," he said. In afternoon trade New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, was US$0.92 higher at US$94.76 a barrel from US$93.84 in US trades on Friday. The December contract expired Friday, closing US$1.67 higher at US$95.10.
■ GAMING
Sony slashes software price
Sony Corp, the world's largest maker of video-game players, halved the price of a software program package used to develop titles for its PlayStation 3 console yesterday. The package, known as "reference tool," is now priced at ¥950,000 (US$8,600) in Japan and US$10,250 in the US, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc, the Tokyo-based company's game unit, said in a statement.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
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